ISTE Update - Two Days to Departure

Since I need to take care of some family business tomorrow, my ISTE11 packing is beginning a bit early for my Thursday departure. I already have a good idea of what I'll be bringing with me, so the only challenge should be fitting things in (and whittling down, if necessary). In addition to clothing*, I'm including small items for friends, healthy snacks, and a few little boxes of wine. Essential stuff.

*If you're unsure of how to dress for a summer conference, my stylish friend, Buffy Hamilton, offers a few tips on the Tumblr blog, Librarian Wardrobe.

I've added an exciting event to my ISTE planner: TEDxPhiladelphiaED. This (naturally) creates a conflict in my schedule, but a group of us will be leaving EduBloggerCon a bit early so that we can attend both events.

Check the site to see if there are any more tickets available for TEDxPhiladelphiaED. As for EduBloggerCon, organizer Steve Hargadon writes,

"Remember, you don't need to be registered for ISTE to attend EduBloggerCon (hurray to ISTE for everything associated with our putting on EduBloggerCon--room, wireless access, promotion, and this liberal entrance policy!). So please spread the word to educators within striking distance of Philadelphia, as everyone is most welcome and, since we are in a huge ballroom (Ballroom A) at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, there's room for as many as want to come! You don't need to let anyone know you are coming, but it is definitely fun to see who's attending, so you can use the following pages to indicate your attendance: The Classroom 2.0 event page or the Facebook Event Page."

And if you haven't reserved a spot at SIGMS Forum: There is No Better Time: A Dawning Era for School Librarians better do so - it's free, but you must pre-register. Here's a little taste of what you might expect from some of the presenters:

Gwyneth Jones

"Viva La Social Media Revolución! Tough times call for tough measures! Invisible librarians are vulnerable and invisible library programs can be visibly cut. But take heart! This is a dawning era of librarianship - we are now and we always have been educational revolutionaries! Making a few daring digital shifts in your practice & program will show the world that we are vital to vision and future of learning and more indispensable than ever!"

Buffy Hamilton




Another Forum presenter, Shannon Miller urges us to Bring It! to ISTE:

"Bring that spark, that urge to connect. Bring those ideas with you. Bring your passion for wanting to try something completely out of the box.

Because all it takes is that one connection with someone else to truly make a difference in not just the lives of your students, but also in yours!"

You could do worse than to follow her advice.

See you there!

"June 9" by radarxlove

"ISTE11_SigmsForum_Viva_La_Revolucion" by The Daring Librarian